Dublin’s urban development is increasingly challenged by uneven liveability, spatial inequality, and the persistent over-reliance on a dominant city centre. Despite sustained population growth and extensive suburban expansion, many areas beyond the historic core continue to lack well-functioning peripheral centralities capable of supporting everyday life through access to services, employment, public space, and civic infrastructure. Liveability, understood as the quality of the relationship between people and their living environment, has a strong spatial and social dimension and is closely tied to neighbourhood structure and urban performance (van Dorst, 2012). The underperformance of Dublin’s peripheral centralities places growing pressure on the city centre and highlights structural weaknesses in the city’s planning and governance framework.

While suburbanisation in Dublin began in the nineteenth century with the outward movement of affluent populations beyond Georgian Dublin, these early spatial patterns were later significantly reinforced and expanded through state-led housing provision, infrastructure investment, and planning policy. Through a diffusion–coalescence process, suburban growth spread outward before gradually consolidating into the metropolitan region, shaping the spatial structure of the city over time (Dietzel et al., 2005). However, this growth occurred largely without a coordinated strategy for the development of robust and liveable centralities. As a result, many peripheral centres exist in form but do not adequately function or perform in meeting high standards of liveability, reflecting broader conflicts between activity, regulation, and everyday life (Roberts & Turner, 2005).

Despite long-standing planning concepts that promote local centres, walkability, and mixed-use development, such as the urban village model, these ideas have often remained inconsistently applied or idealised, rather than embedded within a coherent metropolitan strategy (Biddulph et al., 2002). Literature on peripheral centralities has highlighted the historical and contemporary importance of suburban centres as key sites of urbanity, governance, and socio-spatial performance, challenging city-centric planning approaches and the representation of space (Phelps, Keil & Maginn, 2025) (Lefebvre, 1991). Nevertheless, the relationship between suburban expansion, fragmented governance, and liveability outcomes in contemporary challenges of liveability and spatial equity. The aim of the project is to develop a strategic framework plan that integrates spatial and policy design to strengthen peripheral centralities and support a more liveable, coordinated, and polycentric Dublin metropolitan area. Dublin remains insufficiently examined as a strategic planning issue.

This thesis addresses this gap by examining the evolution of suburbanisation and planning governance in Dublin, linking historical development patterns to contemporary challenges of liveability and spatial equity. The aim of the project is to develop a strategic framework plan that integrates spatial and policy design to strengthen peripheral centralities and support a more liveable, coordinated, and polycentric Dublin metropolitan area. ... Read more

This thesis examines how current urban planning and spatial design in Slovenia address the needs of the elderly population. The accessibility to walking infrastructure and public transport in times of high temperature poses a challenge for people aged 65 and above, especially in central and semi-central districts in Slovenia’s mountainous and hilly regions, where ageing demographics, financial funding and climate pressures intensify spatial exclusion.

Central to this research is the research question: “How can age-friendly design of public spaces support social and physical well-being in response to heat stress challenges for older adults in Slovenia in a spatially just way?”

A mixed-method approach of research, design, personal inputs and pattern language have been used to critically address the challenges of conventional planning and design strategies and demonstrate inclusive and equitable alternatives that sustain the unpredictable future for next generations.

These results conclude that addressing the spatial and social challenges faced by an ageing population requires both long-term, top-down awareness reform and immediate, ground-level action. Urban design, if implemented as a preventive measure, could, in the long term, lead to reduced healthcare demands and increased economic productivity. It also enables urgent, bottom-up improvements to quality of life by placing older adults at the centre of this transition.

The research aims to provide insights and strategies for more inclusive and future-proof urban design, adapted to older adults. The aim is to create environments in which older adults can age actively and adapt to meet their needs. That would demonstrate how the built environment can foster more just and inclusive public spaces that form a social infrastructure of collective care and agency, ultimately enhancing the long-term well-being of older adults.
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India is undergoing one of the largest and most consequential urban transitions in the world. Yet its spatial planning framework continues to rely on administrative distinctions between rural and urban areas that fail to capture the territorial realities of contemporary urbanisation. Urban growth increasingly unfolds across metropolitan peripheries, rural-urban interfaces, infrastructure corridors, and functionally integrated regions, while planning institutions remain organised around bounded municipal jurisdictions. This disconnect limits the ability of planning to anticipate, govern, and shape emerging urban territories.

This thesis examines how India's spatial planning framework can be reformed to better respond to processes of territorial urbanisation. It argues for a shift from planning the city as a fixed administrative entity towards planning the urbanising territory as a dynamic spatial condition. Drawing upon literature on urbanisation, regional planning, governance, and critical urban theory, the research develops an analytical framework that investigates the relationship between urbanisation processes, planning institutions, planning instruments, governance arrangements, and spatial outcomes.

The framework is applied to the Ahmedabad city region in Gujarat, a metropolitan area that exemplifies rapid peripheral expansion, fragmented governance, and uneven spatial transformation. Through a multi-scalar analysis of institutional structures, statutory planning mechanisms, urbanisation patterns, and governance relationships, the research identifies the structural limitations of the existing planning system and evaluates its capacity to respond to contemporary territorial change.

Building on these findings, the thesis proposes a reform agenda structured around a vision, manifesto, and a set of institutional, legislative, governance, and planning reforms. Rather than prescribing a new master plan, it outlines pathways for transforming the planning system itself by strengthening metropolitan coordination, recognising urbanising territories beyond administrative boundaries, integrating planning across scales and sectors, improving institutional capacity, and promoting adaptive and collaborative planning practices.

The thesis contributes to contemporary debates on planning reform in India by reframing urbanisation as a territorial process rather than a municipal phenomenon. While grounded in the case of Ahmedabad, the proposed framework offers broader conceptual and policy insights for rapidly urbanising regions across India, demonstrating how spatial planning can evolve from managing existing cities to anticipating and guiding the formation of future urban territories. ... Read more

The Brussels metropolitan area is characterised by a strong mismatch between functional interdependence and institutional fragmentation. While mobility flows, housing dynamics, employment patterns and social relations increasingly operate across the boundary between the Brussels-Capital Region (BCR) and its surrounding Flemish periphery, planning competences, governance structures and territorial identities remain largely organised according to administrative borders. This produces spatial discontinuities, uneven accessibility and limited coordination in a territory that already functions as a shared metropolitan system.

This graduation project investigates how spatial design and institutional strategies can mediate the integration of the Flemish periphery into the Brussels metropolitan system. Rather than treating integration as a purely physical or infrastructural challenge, the research approaches it as a multidimensional process involving spatial systems, social dynamics and institutional frameworks. The Flemish periphery is therefore not understood as a homogeneous suburban belt, but rather as a collection of differentiated interplaces, where municipalities such as Vilvoorde, Tervuren and Sint-Genesius-Rode each relate differently to Brussels through mobility, landscape, identity and governance.

Methodologically, the project combines spatial analysis, governance research, pattern-based thinking and Research-by-Design. The pattern language translates the analytical findings into a flexible set of intervention principles organised around connectivity, centrality, borders and cooperation. These patterns structure both the institutional and spatial proposals, allowing regional strategies and local interventions to be understood as part of the same metropolitan process.

The project proposes a shift from fragmented planning towards a more relational and cooperative metropolitan approach. At the institutional scale, this is explored through soft governance mechanisms, project-based partnerships and funding incentives that can support collaboration without requiring a new metropolitan authority. At the spatial scale, the design strategies test how mobility corridors, peripheral centralities, productive landscapes, border zones and social infrastructures can become mediating interfaces between Brussels and its Flemish periphery, with Vilvoorde serving as the main case for local design exploration.

By linking spatial design with soft institutional strategies, the thesis reframes the Brussels edge not as a marginal buffer zone or a fixed line of separation, but as an active metropolitan interface. The project argues that integration should not imply the absorption of the periphery into Brussels, but rather the construction of stronger relationships between differentiated municipalities, communities, infrastructures and institutions. ... Read more

Since the 90's, Vilnius region (Lithuania) has been experiencing rapid and poorly managed market-driven development of urban sprawl - a result of institutional, economic and societal shifts in the post-communist European context. This has resulted in extensive car-dependent residential areas which lack infrastructure, services and quality public spaces, creating major accessibility and social cohesion challenges. This thesis explores how and why these accessibility and social cohesion challenges manifest themselves in residential urban sprawl areas in Vilnius region, and how spatial, governance and policy interventions in both dimensions can mutually reinforce each other to create more inclusive and sustainable living environments.

Analysis revealed that a lack of daily amenities and public spaces, as well as a lack (and poor organization) of appropriate mobility infrastructure in urban sprawl areas drives people away from local public spaces through a lack of local meeting places, dependence on the inner city, as well as hostile and car-centric streets. Furthermore, insights showed that urban sprawl and its associated challenges in Vilnius region are the result of a set of systemic failures and dysfunctions, including missing governance scales, flawed financial systems and legal structures, as well as mismatches between formal and real spatial planning tool powers.

This thesis proposes an integrated exploratory framework of spatial, governance and policy interventions which directly responds to these findings. Utilizing SE Vilnius as a case study, the spatial design proposes the development of a network of walkable, mixed-use compact centralities, while the policy and governance interventions directly target the structural fail points. Together, these create a framework to improve accessibility and social cohesion in urban sprawl areas, transforming them towards more sustainable and inclusive living environments. ... Read more

The rapid expansion of digital infrastructure across the Netherlands has sparked acute territorial friction, as the material demands of data center clusters increasingly clash with the physical capacity of regional landscapes and saturated power grids. This thesis addresses the unsustainable paradigm of the digital intelligence as an isolated, resource-extracting industrial fortress by proposing a multiscalar design framework rooted in the concept of “Radical Integration.” Moving systematically from macro-territorial strategy down to nano-scale architectural details, the project redefines data centers not as mono functional utility voids, but as open, multi-programmatic public assets and metabolic anchors. Methodologically, the research bridges political ecology, spatial planning, and architectural design through a multi-dimensional analysis and dynamic scenario matrices targeting the year 2040. Spatially, the framework deploys specialized typologies tailored to the distinct socio-ecological conditions of the Dutch landscape. In urban cores, data infrastructure is vertically stacked to host civic spaces and power local innovation networks, while in rural and industrial production zones, facilities form circular metabolic alliances. Backed by an actionable regulatory and policy road map across national, regional, and municipal governance levels, this work demonstrates how digital infrastructure can be stripped of its corporate opacity. Ultimately, the project materializes a new spatial contract that transforms contested computational hubs into socially integrated, democratically accountable, and ecologically resilient components of the public commons. ... Read more

The port of Rotterdam is undergoing an energy transition to lower emissions and tackle climate change. This transition threatens to leave its workers behind. A workforce of 192,000 people faces automation, skill displacement, and growing inequality. The transition is being planned around infrastructure and investment, not around people. That is why this report aims to answer the question ‘’How can the Port of Rotterdam shift from oil-based refinery toward renewable-based energy systems in a way that secures inclusive, intergenerational employment justice, and strengthens its role as a North Sea energy hub?’’ Through research and analysis, a spatial design was developed to address the community’s wishes, supported by a framework based on physical, mental, and social layers. Keeping in mind the importance of circularity and the multiple stakeholders, this project uses six different mechanisms to assess the outcome of the project.

Governance must become participatory and spatially explicit. Policies must be tested, adapted, and held accountable to the communities they affect. The port's next chapter is written not by infrastructure alone, but by the people who build, operate, and inhabit it. They need an integrated territorial system that links energy production to social reproduction. By introducing an educational corridor, workforce transition pathways, affordable locally produced energy and mixed-use neighbourhoods, this project aims to fill the gaps caused by the transition. By 2100, the Port of Rotterdam will be more than an engine of trade; it will be a living city where work, energy, and community are inseparable. Every worker, regardless of age, origin, or gender, should feel a sense of belonging. This project prioritises the liveability, safety, connectivity and inclusivity to reach for inter- and intragenerational justice within the energy transition.
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Just Zeeland is an energy transition project that places spatial justice at its core. Located in the province of Zeeland, the project responds to national ambitions to transform the region into a major energy and industrial hub, including the expansion of nuclear energy. In contrast, it proposes an alternative future without nuclear energy, based on a resilient and circular system that balances economic stability, environmental quality and social justice.

The project is grounded in one overarching community: rural delta residents whose daily territories intersect with energy infrastructures. Within this group, three sub-communities are identified: village based residents, industrial workforce residents and transition-oriented communities. Each represents different values related to economic stability, environmental responsibility and governance. The aim is to develop a spatial framework that balances these perspectives.

The approach combines spatial analysis, stakeholder analysis and research by design. A phased strategy towards 2100 is developed across multiple scales and structured around three interconnected systems: industry, mobility and energy communities. Industrial clusters are reorganised into circular systems supported by renewable energy and hydrogen. Mobility systems improve regional accessibility and connect communities through hubs and networks. Energy communities range from local, self-sufficient systems to larger clusters that also produce energy for the wider region.

The results show how bundling infrastructure, organising flows and strengthening local systems can reduce spatial pressure while improving accessibility and energy resilience.

The project demonstrates that integrating industry, mobility and community-based energy systems can support a more balanced and socially and spatially just transition, in which economy, environment and society are more equally aligned. ... Read more

The North Sea is a highly contested space, shaped by competing stakeholder interests across energy, ecology, and maritime industries. As the Netherlands accelerates its transition toward renewable energy, primarily through offshore production and storage, these pressures intensify, often overlooking the needs of local communities. Central to this project are Dutch fishing communities, who are marginalised in decision-making processes and disproportionately affected by spatial and regulatory transformations associated with the energy transition at sea and on land, threatening their livelihoods and identities.

The project therefore investigates how the transition toward renewable energy can enable a just future for fishing communities in the Netherlands. Through qualitative media analysis and geospatial mapping, the fears and aspirations of these communities are identified and positioned in relation to dominant stakeholders in order to reveal key conflicts and opportunities for alignment. Based on this, a shared vision for the future is developed, grounded in a justice-oriented framework that guides a transition strategy integrating fisheries into the evolving maritime energy landscape rather than displacing them.

This strategy operates across scales. At the local and regional level, a network of maritime education and industry hubs centred around the IJsselmeer supports economic diversification while maintaining cultural ties to fishing practices. At sea, spatial strategies promote the co-location of renewable energy infrastructure and fishing activities, such as fishing within offshore wind farms, alongside new roles for fishers in offshore maintenance and emerging maritime industries. Simultaneously, the North Sea is reimagined as a regenerative common, sustaining both food and energy production while enabling stakeholders to share infrastructure, resources, and knowledge.

Together, these interventions reposition Dutch fishing communities as active participants in the energy transition, enabling pathways toward a just transition in the Netherlands and the North Sea. By linking spatial design with economic diversification and adaptive governance, the project demonstrates how justice can be operationalised in in cross-scale/macro-regional marine transformations, offering a transferable commoning model for balancing renewable energy development with local livelihoods. ... Read more

As a peripheral agricultural city in northeastern China, Suihua is experiencing severe population loss, having lost approximately one-third of its residents between 2010-2020. The city exhibits classic shrinking city characteristics - rapid urban decay, economic stagnation, poverty concentration, and social segregation - yet lacks effective intervention measures to address these challenges. This urgent situation demands immediate action to mitigate the spatial, economic and social impacts of depopulation. Centered on the concept of smart shrinkage, this project establishes a comprehensive framework targeting three core objectives: Social Cohesion, Urban-Rural Economic Growth, and Spatial Efficiency. Through systematic analysis, we identified four distinct typologies of shrinkage risk areas in Suihua, conducting field surveys and interviews to document spatial characteristics and user preferences for each type. These findings informed the development of four tailored intervention strategies: Urban Living Room, Super Community, Modern Creative Industry Park, and Industrial Composite Zone. The project's innovative "spatial-economic-social" tripartite response mechanism has yielded three groundbreaking contributions to China's unique "urban suburban-rural" triaxial shrinkage structure: (1) a spatial optimization model based on adaptive reuse principles; (2) an economic revitalization approach extending agricultural value chains; and (3) a culturally-grounded social stabilization strategy. These practical solutions establish a replicable governance paradigm for regions facing similar developmental challenges. ... Read more

Jinchang City, as a typical resource-based city in China, has long relied on the extraction and smelting of non-ferrous metals such as nickel and cobalt, resulting in a single-industry economic structure, environmental degradation, and social fragmentation. Against the backdrop of global resource price fluctuations, climate change, and regional economic transformation, the traditional resource-dependent development path faces severe challenges. This study aims to explore a transformation pathway based on ecological restoration and sustainable development, breaking the dependency on single-resource economies and achieving economic diversification, ecological recovery, and socially inclusive development.

The research adopts Scenario Planning methodology to construct three typical future development paths: "Desert Oasis," "Industrial Revival," and "Managed Shrinkage." These three scenarios represent ecological priority, market orientation, and governance-focused transformation strategies, respectively. They are tailored to regional characteristics and social preferences, exploring feasible development pathways under future deep uncertainties.

Through the analysis of river restoration, land rehabilitation, and community revitalization strategies, the study proposes adaptive development solutions for Jinchang, including de-channelization of rivers, mixed-species planting, solar-agriculture integration, and industrial heritage reuse. Furthermore, the project emphasizes social equity during urban regeneration, promoting community participation and social inclusion to prevent social segregation and inequality during the transition process.

The findings present a more resilient and sustainable transformation model for resource-based cities, providing practical insights for policy-making and ecological restoration in similar regions. ... Read more

The textile industry poses significant environmental and social challenges due to its globalised, linear value chain. In response, cities like Amsterdam are advancing circular economy strategies as part of broader political commitments to ecological sustainability and social equity, notably through frameworks like the Doughnut Economy. This thesis investigates how spatial planning can contribute to a more ‘care-full' circular transition of the textile value chain in the Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam.
Building on theories of care ethics and degrowth circularity, the research develops a spatial planning approach that integrates material circularity with socio-ecological values. Through a combination of policy analysis, spatial design exploration, and stakeholder engagement, the thesis demonstrates how spatial planning can operationalise circular ambitions at different scales. It argues that circular spatial planning must not only accommodate flows of textile production, reuse, repair, and recycling, but also intentionally design for care - care for materials, space, time, circular workers, and differences within communities.
The proposed 'care-full' approach includes activating underused spatial assets and repurposing existing infrastructures to support collective and commercial textile looping; improving spatial quality and accessibility; enabling shorter, zero-emission textile loops; capacity building in vulnerable communities through facilitating spaces for skill sharing and social interaction; valuing circular workers and raising awareness among consumers, and recognising the contribution of circular workers while promoting consumer awareness. Based on this framework, the thesis presents a spatial vision and strategic recommendations for the Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam that align spatial planning, policy frameworks, and governance mechanisms to support an inclusive and place-based circular textile transition.
By bridging urban design, spatial planning, governance, and circular economy policy, this thesis contributes to academic and political debates on how the circular economy can be spatialised in socially just and ecologically viable ways, thereby demonstrating an approach to operationalising the Doughnut framework. It demonstrates that spatial planning can play a critical role not only in closing material loops but also in fostering socio-ecological value for cities undergoing circular transitions. ... Read more

In order to achieve the national target of climate neutrality by 2050, the Netherlands needs to undergo an energy transition that will result in sweeping change to the energy system. Within the current energy system, energy poverty plagues nearly 400.000 Dutch households, and 75 percent of those households reside in social housing. What if the systemic change inherent to the impending energy transition could be used as an opportunity to eradicate energy poverty in the Netherlands? To answer this question, we design a vision and strategy to develop an affordable, renewable heating system in the region of Arnhem-Nijmegen, with the social housing community acting as both the social and organisational heart. We call this Social Heating. The vision and strategy have been designed using a mixed-methods approach involving conceptual and technical literature reviews, along with news media, policy, case study, energy, organisational, and spatial analyses. The result is a vision of an expanded, renewables-based district heating network extending to most of the Arnhem-Nijmegen region, delivered by a new, non-profit organisation, the Social Heating Association (“SHA”). An associated strategy details how the vision will be implemented through a combination of spatial and policy interventions, ordered over time in five phases extending to 2100. By harnessing the existing organisational capacity of social housing communities, and with careful planning and bold action, it is possible to provide affordable, renewable heating to all in the Arnhem-Nijmegen region. Further, we believe this model for heating can be used as a template for implementation in similar regions across the Netherlands. ... Read more

The ongoing energy transition in the Netherlands is a key driver for changing landscape identities. This report examines the disrupted relationship between landscape, energy, and local communities in relation to the energy transition through the case of Northern Netherlands (Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe). The study focuses on how a centralized planning approach, coupled with limited community participation, impacts the identity of the rural landscape and results in large resistance from the local community. This disconnection serves as the starting point for developing an alternative strategy—one that fosters a more just and inclusive transition.

The relationship between landscapes, energy and rural residents is analyzed using maps, literature, case studies and media analysis to gain an in-depth understanding of resistance towards centralized energy projects that go beyond NIMBYism. Core themes including public acceptance, spatial justice, participatory governance, and integrated land-use planning are explored in the report. Existing modes of bottom-up governance such as farmer and energy cooperatives are used to build an alternate model of governance for management of new energy landscapes. It follows a cooperative approach to empower citizens in the decision making of the new identity.

By coupling energy transition within local participation and sensitivity to the landscape and its identity, this report advocates for an integrated, place-based approach that enhances public acceptance and contributes to a just redefinition of landscape identity. For this, an integrated toolbox in the form of spatial principles, a catalogue and a new governance structure are presented. ... Read more

The accelerating impacts of climate change and evolving geopolitical dynamics underscore the urgent need for the Netherlands to transition from fossil fuel dependency towards sustainable, renewable energy sources. Central to this challenge are the nation’s industrial clusters, which not only contribute significantly to CO2 emissions, but are also heavily reliant on fossil-based fuels. Meeting the climate targets outlined in The Klimaatakkoord (Climate Accord), especially the complete elimination of CO2 emissions by 2050, necessitates not only a technological shift, but also a socially inclusive transition that accounts for the workers and communities embedded within these industrial regions.
This project proposes the large-scale implementation of green hydrogen as a key strategy in achieving social goals for the community. Hydrogen produced through electrolysis is presented as a viable alternative feedstock for decarbonizing industrial processes. The vision adopts a multi-scalar approach, combining a national perspective with targeted interventions at the regional clusters. For example, Rotterdam being reimagined as the largest producer of green hydrogen in the Netherlands. Former fossil fuel-dominated zones are re-envisioned as spaces of green experimentation and innovation through the installation of mega-electrolysis plants and the transformation of post-industrial lands into green oases.
Crucially, the project emphasizes an equitable community transition. It introduces a multi-level governance mechanism in the form of a Hydrogen Council, aimed at empowering local communities to participate in the shaping of their post-fossil identities. Additionally, the integration of hydrogen credits is proposed as a tool to incentivize public adoption and normalize hydrogen use in everyday life. These spatial and social strategies are designed to improve environmental conditions, working environments, and the social fabric of transitioning industrial communities.
This approach aims to develop replicable models that can guide similar transitions across the Netherlands. Through the phased implementation of interventions over the next 25 years, the goal is to foster a beneficial relationship between industries and communities: mutualism. In the future, hydrogen is expected to stabilize as the predominant sustainable fuel source, securing its role in the future energy landscape.
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Urban villages in China, such as those in Chengdu’s Green Belt, are typical informal settlements inhabited by a large number of migrant workers. These workers maintain short-distance food systems characterized by small-scale agriculture and local food sales, which are crucial for food security. However, under the “grain security” policy, the government has been acquiring fragmented farmland in the Green Belt area for unified management by food companies. Simultaneously, urban village renewal driven by real estate development is demolishing low-rent housing and shops, threatening the livelihoods and homes of migrant workers.

This project conducts a cross-scale study in Chengdu’s Green Belt, Jinniu District, and Anjing urban village, integrating circular development and spatial justice theories into the urban regeneration discussion. The aim is to develop a vision, policy, and strategic framework for circular development in these sites, exploring how transforming city-scale food systems could drive the regeneration of urban villages by recognizing overlooked spaces and labor, thereby enhancing the well-being of marginalized groups.

The project begins with document analysis and mapping, summarizing the landscape characteristics of three types of urban villages and a concentrated farmland area. Subsequently, field surveys and interviews are conducted to collect data on the foodscapes managed by migrant workers. Supported by a literature review, a circular development assessment system is developed to evaluate these foodscapes. This assessment forms a planning vision for the development of a circular food system in the Green Belt, including the material flows of food, food waste, and construction debris. Based on this vision, a strategic framework called “Pattern Language” is proposed, focusing on socio-spatial adaptation, resource looping, ecological regeneration, and spatial justice.

The application logic of this framework is demonstrated through its implementation in the spatial structure planning of Jinniu District and the spatial design of Anjing urban village. Additionally, a simulated stakeholder co-design workshop showcases its potential to negotiate and balance the needs of different stakeholders across various knowledge backgrounds.
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Decarbonizing the energy sector to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 poses challenges, especially for regions heavily dependent on fossil fuel extraction. Groningen, a region highly dependent on gas extraction, faces significant socio-economic and spatial challenges. This thesis examines a strategy for Groningen based around the energy transition. The strategy includes repurposing the current energy infrastructure, placing renewables, regenerating nature, and shifting land-use change, all contributing to a new green economy for Groningen. Three scenarios are developed based on a set of different values. These scenarios present alternative futures and highlight areas with spatial competition. Different claims on the same space necessitate choices and smart design solutions. The strategy combines the three scenarios and shows a possible design outcome. An important aspect of the scenarios and strategy is to inform the local communities. Engagement strategies and proposals for more inclusive governance are developed, specifically focusing on marginalized groups, who are often most affected by the transition. This thesis aims to enhance knowledge about the energy transition in the context of Groningen and to promote more inclusive governance. ... Read more

The Dutch greenhouse industry contributing 19% of the national carbon emissions, highlights its significant role in the ever-increasing environmental, social, and political challenges developing from climate change. Geopolitical tensions including the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with resource scarcity and a world population growth underscore the urgency of transitioning societal practices within the food-energy nexus. Existing policies such as the European Green Deal emphasize the need to transition toward renewable energy. Given the horticulture sector’s substantial spatial and global exportation footprint, there is potential to strategically utilize these spaces and economic flows. If successful, Dutch greenhouses can be the catalyst for a circular society model that emphasizes environmental regeneration, peri-urban community empowerment, and representative policy.

This report builds from theories including social justice, circular economy, glocalization, and regenerating peri-urban landscapes. By applying a circular society framework, which prioritizes sustainable consumption patterns, co-created policy, and spatial justice, this report develops a regional strategy for connecting and diversifying greenhouse sub-regions. The goals of this strategy include enhancing community engagement, ecological restoration, innovative knowledge-based production, and fully renewably sourced systems. An analysis through the lens of these intended goals leads to an instruction manual for redesigning industrial landscapes and an index of potential building blocks to implement in the redesign.

This instruction manual offers to scientific relevance through a large-scale combination of innovations, and a circular 15-minute social and 30-minute economic system, and societal relevance through lowering political unrest and the combination of technical and social functions. The manual is useful for a diverse range of parties including municipalities, policymakers, scientists, students, and residents.

Ultimately, SowGrowConnect aims for a future where greenhouse regions are not just endless rows of glasshouses but inclusive and diverse energy and social landscapes. ... Read more

The Netherlands holds the title of the world’s second-largest exporter of agricultural goods, primarily due to Wageningen University’s pioneering research and innovation. However, this success has led to significant challenges. Intensive farming practices have strained resources and disrupted local water and soil cycles, sparking protests from frustrated farmers. Moreover, the quality of fresh water in the Dutch Delta has deteriorated due to pollutants like NO2 and PO4, exacerbated by increasing salinization pressure from the North Sea. This linear system has resulted in waste accumulation and biodiversity loss, endangering both agriculture and natural ecosystems’ sustainability.

To address these challenges, our goal is to integrate nature into existing agricultural practices, thus restoring a balance with local ecosystems. The AgriNature project aims to achieve this by analysing the interplay between agriculture and nature, assessing water and soil management spatially, and fostering a participatory approach with farmers.

The first phase of this transition starts with engaging farmers who are already implementing sustainable methods like agroforestry and saline agriculture, the project establishes Living Labs for co-creation, knowledge sharing, and policy influence. Waterboards and governmental agencies will mediate and provide support, connecting farmers to stakeholders and creating financial incentives. The project also recognizes the necessity of a protein transition towards more plant-based or lab-grown alternatives, aiming to decrease nitrogen pollution and eventually rewild cattle. In the second phase, AgriNature plans to expand innovations to other farmers and establish Agroparks as hubs for innovation and technology. Consumer awareness centres will promote understanding of the protein transition and the need for biodiversity. A nature regeneration centre will oversee rewilding efforts and flood risk management using nature-based solutions. The third phase will future proof these efforts by continuing innovations within the established research and development networks.

Ultimately, AgriNature envisions a symbiotic relationship between agriculture and nature, empowering farmers as stewards of the land and promoting ecologically sensitive practices. Through multidisciplinary collaboration and integration of natural cycles into urban planning and agriculture, the project aims to serve as a global model for sustainability, fostering soil health, water conservation, and biodiversity preservation.
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